The WEREHYENA does exist in African mythology
Few people know this unless they read about Old World mythology or ancient African culture. Ancient African mythology does include the were-hyena.
The HYENA is still widely recognized outside of Africa yet still little understood. The African peoples know better. The hyena is a ferocious pack hunter carnivore. Hyenas have been at war with the lions of Africa since the Pleistocene epoch. Full grown male lions and groups of female lions typically and usually have the better of the hyena packs. But on occasion the hyena pack will use stealth, the proper place, timing, and circumstances to turn the tables on unwary single lions, even two lions, or even a group of female lions, but everything else has to be in the hyena's favor for such an ambush to work.
The humans of Africa are wary of the dangerous hyena. The hyena cannot be domesticated. There are accounts of brave African entrepeneurs leading captive hyenas around on leashes for public show, but it is a dangerous business, even when raising a hyena pup for that purpose. Such men show the scars on their bodies from savage bites of their 'pet' hyenas, raised from infancy. No wild adult hyena can be tamed. Such professional hyena owners have to carry a short stout stick with them at all times when in the presence of their 'pet' hyenas. The normal African tribal family doesn't keep hyena pets, as far as I know of; it's too dangerous.
The hyena's jaws are far stronger than a wolf's jaws. A hyena can actually crack bone, eat and devour the bone. Apocraphyl accounts claim that if a hyena pack descends upon a dead human, within one hour the whole corpse has vanished, leaving only a large red, wet stain upon the ground.
The hyena is to the African what the cunning, wiley coyote is to the Southwest American native indians. The hyena is a feared creature in Africa. Even one full grown hyena is much more dangerous than a wolf. Female hyenas are larger than males, to protect their cubs from cannibalism.